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DIFT Colloquium: ‘The Mystery of Cosmic Acceleration’
March 18 | 15:30 - 17:00
Title: The Mystery of Cosmic Acceleration
Speaker: Prof. David Weinberg, The Ohio State University, USA
Date and time: 15:30h (CET), Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
Location: CFTMAT Auditorium
After the talk, we will have a coffee gathering, providing an opportunity to continue the discussion and interact with the speaker in an informal setting.
Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87376882248?pwd=ydvE94nhe7Wq03As62XTn9aj0Nwgqh.1
Abstract:
Cosmic acceleration is one of the most surprising cosmological discoveries
of the past century. Even the “simplest” explanations require new,
cosmologically dominant energy components with exotic physical properties.
Current and near-future experiments are seeking clues to the origin of
cosmic acceleration by measuring the history of expansion and structure
growth with sub-percent precision over a wide span of redshift. I will
review the observational methods that underpin these measurements
and assess the current state of play, with particular attention to recent
measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) which
suggest that the properties of dark energy are evolving at a startling rate.
I will discuss the prospects and challenges for the new generation of
experiments — DESI, the Euclid mission, the Vera Rubin Observatory,
and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — which aim to sharpen cosmological
measurements by a factor of ten.
Cosmic acceleration is one of the most surprising cosmological discoveries
of the past century. Even the “simplest” explanations require new,
cosmologically dominant energy components with exotic physical properties.
Current and near-future experiments are seeking clues to the origin of
cosmic acceleration by measuring the history of expansion and structure
growth with sub-percent precision over a wide span of redshift. I will
review the observational methods that underpin these measurements
and assess the current state of play, with particular attention to recent
measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) which
suggest that the properties of dark energy are evolving at a startling rate.
I will discuss the prospects and challenges for the new generation of
experiments — DESI, the Euclid mission, the Vera Rubin Observatory,
and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope — which aim to sharpen cosmological
measurements by a factor of ten.
